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Brenden Woods to rejoin MIRA after helping to raise Stonepeak III

He returns to his previous employer as the firm nears its $5bn hard-cap for Macquarie Infrastructure Partners IV.

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Macquarie offices

Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets has lured Brenden Woods away from his investor relations role at Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners to fill a similar position for the Australian fund manager, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Woods left his job in December as head of investor relations at Stonepeak, a New York-based firm focusing on North American infrastructure investments, one source said.

Brenden Woods is leaving his investor relations position at Stonepeak to rejoin MIRA.

He will spend the next few months on garden leave before rejoining MIRA, where Woods previously worked from 2006 to 2013. The position he’s filling is head of Americas for the firm’s investor solutions group, which handles investor client management, and he will report to the group’s global head, Phil Peters.

Woods worked at Stonepeak for around two years starting in 2016 and played a key role in helping the firm raise its third infrastructure fund, which it closed on $7.2 billion last July, making it the second-largest infrastructure fund to close in 2018.

Around 100 investors committed to the fund, which is targeting a 12 percent net internal rate of return, inclusive of a 4 percent cash yield, on investments in North American power, water, energy, communications and transportation assets, according to public pension documents.

Woods’ first stint at MIRA included serving in several roles in offices the firm has around the world. He’s served as chief operating officer for MIRA’s Asia business, run a fund-of-funds and was at times based in Australia, Asia, Europe and the US.

Woods also spent three years helping private equity firm Stepstone establish an infrastructure business in between working at MIRA and Stonepeak.

He rejoins MIRA as the firm is nearing the end of fundraising for its fourth flagship vehicle, Macquarie Infrastructure Partners IV. As of 27 September, the firm was $200 million shy of the fund’s $5 billion hard-cap and received a $140 million commitment from the North Dakota State Investment Board in October.

A spokeswoman for MIRA declined to comment on the Woods hire or if the firm has ended fundraising for MIP IV.